STANDING ALONE WITH GOD!
1 Kings 22:1-38
INTRODUCTION: Courage has been defined as “the ability or the willingness to do something difficult or dangerous.” Remember, our God shows up when we step up and when we take that first step of faith: 2 Chronicles 16:9. Fear is the biggest enemy to courage and there are many different kinds of fear. Hebrews 10:38. Helen Keller said: “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.” The Bible is full of verses that tell us not to be afraid: In fact, 365 times our Bible tells us not to be afraid. 2 Timothy 1:7; Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5. We can be courageous if we know that our God is with us and will strengthen us. Micaiah was a prophet who lived at the same time as Elijah but is much less well known but he stood alone for his God. Ahab was the king of Israel at the time in 853 BC. 1 Kings 21:25-26; I Kings 22:1; 1 Kings 22:2-4. Remember, even good people can make bad decisions: 1 Kings 22:5-6 these false prophets were prophets for PROFIT! 1 Kings 22:7: Micaiah is that prophet of God who was willing to stand alone with his God!
- IT TAKES COURAGE TO STAND ALONE FOR GOD!
Essential number one in standing for God is courage! Four hundred false prophets all said the same thing! Ahab knew that the prophet of God was not going to say anything good to him: 1 Kings 22:8-9. Ahab hated Micaiah because he always said only what God told him to say. Why did Micaiah always say evil against Ahab? It was because Ahab had sold himself to always do evil. Remember, if you are willing to stand alone for God the world will always hate you! John 15:18-19; 1 John 3:13; James 4:4. We get to choose to be a friend of the world or a friend of God but we cannot choose to try to be both. This world will try to put pressure on you if you stand for God: 1 Kings 22:9-13. We are commanded by our God not to be conformed to the ways of this world: Romans 12:1-2. It takes courage to stand against the pressure of this world because sometimes you have to stand alone with only God on your side.
2. IT TAKES COMMITMENT TO STAND ALONE WITH GOD!
If you are ever going to stand alone with your God it will take commitment to do that. When the pressure to go along to get along you have to be committed to obeying your God no matter what happens. 1 Kings 22:14-23. King Jehoshaphat is a believer but he is a compromised believer at this time. He is not standing for his God or with God’s prophet. 1 Kings 22:14. Remember, it is required that a steward be found faithful: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Micaiah was not a prophet for PROFIT or POPULRITY. Micaiah was a prophet for his God! In our nation today, many churches are going away from the foundation of God’s Word as the foundation of truth and they are preaching what the world wants to hear. One of the last things the Apostle Paul said before they cut his head off was: 2 Timothy 4:2-4. In order to have the good news of the gospel help a person, they must believe the bad news of the gospel: Romans 3:10. When Micaiah proclaimed God’s truth the Bible says: 1 Kings 22:24-28. So often in life we expect an immediate reward when we are faithful to our Lord but often that is not how life works out: Revelations 22:12. Yes, the reward for courage and commitment is coming but not right now. Philippians 1:29; Mathew 5:11-12.
3. TO STAND ALONE FOR GOD TAKES CONVICTION!
Conviction means to have “a firmly-held belief or opinion.” We must have courage, commitment, and a strong conviction that our God always tells us the truth in His Word! Our God tells us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts: Romans 3:3-4; Titus 2:11-15; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Hebrews 11:6. Sadly, not only did Ahab blow off Micaiah but so did compromising king Jehoshaphat blew it off too. Compromising Christians today are still blowing off the truths of God’s Word to their own hurt and the hurt of many others.
Remember that I have said before sin makes you stupid! 1 Kings 22:29-33. What happened to Ahab? Exactly what the prophet of God had said would happen! 1 Kings 22:34-38. 1 Kings 21:17-19: three years had passed since Elijah had given that prophecy and nothing had happened. Ahab thought “well the word of God is not coming true. What Ahab and so many other unbelievers do not know and do not want to know is that God’s Word always comes true! Proverbs 21:30.
We had three primary players in our reading for the last two weeks and each of us is like one of them. There are the Ahab’s. God is speaking to your heart. You need to repent. You need to get right yourself. You know you are not living right. You are blowing God off. You are bond determined to do your own thing. God is saying to you “I love you but you have got to repent and receive my forgiveness.
Then there are the Jehoshaphat’s in this room. You are a believer but you have compromised with sin and you have compromised with evil in your life. You need to stop going along with the ways of this world and get things right with your God. Proverbs 29:1.
Then there are some like Micaiah who are willing to take a stand alone for their God with courage, commitment, and with conviction! Ezekiel 22:30-31.